Charanka solar park with an aggregated operational capacity of 500 MW is Asia’s first and the largest solar park
Even though Gujarat is a power surplus state, it is investing
huge amount of money in solar energy. Inaugurating the Charanka solar
park which had an aggregated operational capacity of 500 MW last month,
the state’s chief minister Narendra Modi dedicated it to the nation
calling it Gujarat’s contribution to the war against global warming and
climate change.
“For ages we have been worshiping Sun god. It’s time to get his
blessings. And, Gujarat will show how,” Narendra Modi told an applauding
crowd of 5000 in Charanka in Patan district. The chief minister was not
invoking gods to impress upon the audience.
He was talking about the amalgamation of science and technology with
business. The context was the inauguration of the 500 MW solar park,
Asia’s first and the largest on April 24.
The park has an aggregated operational capacity of 500 MW of solar power
projects commissioned on a single location with 21 solar project
developers setting up their projects.
While Gujarat’s contribution to the generation of solar energy may look
minuscule compared to the target of 20,000 MW set in the national solar
mission by 2020, it will appear huge seen in the context of all India
figure of 900 MW installation capacity.
“We have set our eyes on achieving the target of 10,000 MW soon,” Modi
said to the cheering audience. Although it will take a while before the
CM’s ambitious target becomes a reality, Gujarat has certainly raced
ahead of other states in getting huge investment in the solar energy
generation.
“The solar installations in Gujarat have attracted an investment of Rs
9,000 crore,” said DJ Pandian, principle secretary, energy, Gujarat
government.
Gujarat’s achievement in attracting investment in solar energy sector is
significant keeping in mind the energy requirements of the country.
According to ministry of power’s latest estimates India has an installed
capacity of 199.87GW, which though is world’s fifth largest, is short
by 21000 MW. And, with coal which accounts for 55 percent of India’s
installed electricity capacity, being a fast depleting resource, it is
important that the country looked for other source of power.
India has a rich solar energy resource. The country receives 200 MW/km
square (megawatt per kilometre square) of average intensity of solar
radiation. With a geographical area of 3.287 million km square, this
amounts to 657.4 million MW.
Although Gujarat is a power surplus state, it announced the solar power
Policy in January 2009. Under the policy, the Gujarat Electricity
Regulatory Commission (GERC) agreed for an attractive feed-in tariff of
Rs 15/unit (the GERC will buy power at this rate from the developers)
for the first 12 years and Rs 5/unit for the subsequent 13 years.
Also, since huge area of land is required for solar projects (approx. 5
acres/MW), the government introduced the concept of solar parks.
The Charanka solar park
The foundation stone for the solar Park was laid at Charanka on
December 30, 2010. Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL), the nodal
agency for implementation of the Solar Park, invested Rs 300 crore into
the Solar Park infrastructure, while Gujarat Energy Transmission
Corporation Limited (GETCO) invested Rs 650 crore into the smart
evacuation and transmission network. The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
provided a loan of Rs 500 crore for smart transmission network
development to GETCO.
In a record one-year time the park was functional by January 2012.
“The park offers the advantage of access to government waste lands, high
solar radiations, utilisation of common infrastructure to host multiple
solar power projects and extending industry and employment to the
remote location of Gujarat,” said Pandian, principle secretary, energy.
The park has helped the local economy too. It has already provided
employment to 30,000 skilled and unskilled workers. The operation and
maintenance activity for the solar plants promises to provide steady
employment to 1,500 personnel for the next 25 years. Further, the solar
power plants will generate 30 lakh units of clean energy per day, which
can provide electricity to 10 lakh households. Above all, these solar
power plants will save CO2 emissions at the rate of 10 lakh tonnes per
year.
“India has huge potential in the solar energy sector, and Gujarat
government’s effort for encouraging investment is the step in the right
direction,” said Sunil Gupta, head, clean energy, Standard Chartered
Bank.
“The Gujarat government has exploited the economy of scale by setting up
this huge solar park and bringing together 21 solar power developers.
The prices of solar energy will certainly fall down,” said V Saibaba,
CEO, Lanco Solar.
Rooftop solar installations
While the concept of solar park has taken off and huge
investments are pouring in, the Gujarat government is not resting on its
laurels. “We will also simultaneously promote solar rooftop
installations,” said Pandian.
Gandhinagar, the state capital, is being developed as a model solar
city, the first-of-its-kind in the country. Gandhinagar Solar City
Project has multiple installations of solar rooftop systems ranging from
1 kilowatt (kW) to 150 kW at more than 150 locations, aggregating to a
capacity of 1.39 MW. These systems cover a total area of two hectares on
roofs, which amounts to approximately 2% of the total roof space in the
capital city. Further, these systems contribute to approximately 1% of
the total energy consumption of the city. Now, the government has
floated a 5 MW Gandhinagar (Solar) Photovoltaic Rooftop Programme
through public-private partnership (PPP). This is the largest solar
rooftop programme in India, and is structured with a vision to
mainstream the practice of solar rooftop systems in the country.
Similar solar rooftop programmes will be extended to more cities like
Mehsana, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara in the near future.
Eventually, the solar rooftop programme will open up to one and all in
Gujarat through a sustainable policy that will be launched in the near
future. “Everyone in Gujarat will be generating power on his rooftop in
the near future,” Pandian said.
“Mainstreaming the solar rooftop practice will open up floodgates to a
whole new industry in the state with a tremendous potential for
employment. It is a vision of the state that each citizen becomes
self-sufficient in terms of energy that is also clean,” he added.
Canal Solar Power
Gujarat has also pioneered canal-based solar power project. A 1
MW pilot project is already commissioned on Narmada branch canal near
Chandrasan village of Mehsana district’s Kadi taluka.
This project was inaugurated on April 24. It is developed by Gujarat
State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) with support from Sardar
Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL). This 1 MW pilot is installed on a
750-metre stretch of the canal and will generate 1.6 million units of
clean electricity per year, as well as prevent evaporation of 90 lakh
litres of water per year from the canal. Hence, the canal solar concept
tackles two of our modern day challenges: energy security and water
security.
Today, Gujarat has about 458 kilometres of open main canal, while the
total canal length, including sub-branches is about 19,000 kilometres;
the final aim of SSNNL is to construct a total of 85,000 kilometres of
canal network.
Assuming a utilisation of only 10% of the existing canal network of
19,000 kilometres, it is estimated that 2,200 MW of solar power
generating capacity can be installed.
This implies that 11,000 acres of land, about 2,000 crore litres of water per year can be potentially conserved.
"Gujarat is the first state not only in India but also in Asia to set up a dedicated department for climate change,” Modi said.
Apart from setting up a dedicated department for climate change, the
government of Gujarat is spending a huge amount on renewable energy
(more than Rs 2,000 crore per year), which the chief minister said was
its contribution in the “war against global warming and climate change.”
Monday, October 22, 2012
India, China likely to face global garbage crisis by 2025
A wakeup call for policy makers, plastic bag manufacturers, disposable packaging companies etc.,
The world will produce ‘mountains of trash’ in the coming decade as nations are racing towards urbanisation, say a new report by the World Bank. In a report on “a relatively silent problem that is growing daily,” the World Bank said that the amount of trash produced daily will lead to global garbage crisis by 2025.
Leading the creation of garbage is India and China, said the report. “As countries, particularly India and China, continue their rapid pace of urbanisation and development, global solid waste quantities are projected to increase considerably,” said the report titled ‘What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management’.
The report also mentioned that China has already become largest waste generator of municipal solid waste in 2004. India is not far behind, according to the report. In a warning signal to both the high growth Asian economies, the report added, “India and especially China have disproportionately high urban waste generation rates per capita relative to overall economic status as they have large relatively poor rural populations that tend to dilute national figures.”
The amount of generation of waste by the countries is doubling in 10 years, which according to the report is “An enormous rate of growth!”
The amount of municipal solid waste will rise from the current 1.3 billion tonnes a year to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025, as per the estimates of the study, which looked worldwide data in its 116 page report, authored by Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata. “The annual cost of solid waste management is projected to rise from the current $205 billion to $375 billion, with cost increasing in low income countries,” it added.
The report argued that as a country urbanises and populations become wealthier, the consumption of inorganic materials (e.g. plastics, paper, glass, aluminum) increases, while the relative organic fraction decreases.
The report said that cities should go for an urgent plan approach solid waste in a comprehensive manner.
“What we’re finding in these figures is not that surprising,” said Hoornweg, “What is surprising, however, is that when you add the figures up we’re looking at a relatively silent problem that is growing daily. The challenges surrounding municipal solid waste are going to be enormous, on a scale of, if not greater than, the challenges we are currently experiencing with climate change. This report should be seen as a wake-up call for policymakers everywhere.”
The world will produce ‘mountains of trash’ in the coming decade as nations are racing towards urbanisation, say a new report by the World Bank. In a report on “a relatively silent problem that is growing daily,” the World Bank said that the amount of trash produced daily will lead to global garbage crisis by 2025.
Leading the creation of garbage is India and China, said the report. “As countries, particularly India and China, continue their rapid pace of urbanisation and development, global solid waste quantities are projected to increase considerably,” said the report titled ‘What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management’.
The report also mentioned that China has already become largest waste generator of municipal solid waste in 2004. India is not far behind, according to the report. In a warning signal to both the high growth Asian economies, the report added, “India and especially China have disproportionately high urban waste generation rates per capita relative to overall economic status as they have large relatively poor rural populations that tend to dilute national figures.”
The amount of generation of waste by the countries is doubling in 10 years, which according to the report is “An enormous rate of growth!”
The amount of municipal solid waste will rise from the current 1.3 billion tonnes a year to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025, as per the estimates of the study, which looked worldwide data in its 116 page report, authored by Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata. “The annual cost of solid waste management is projected to rise from the current $205 billion to $375 billion, with cost increasing in low income countries,” it added.
The report argued that as a country urbanises and populations become wealthier, the consumption of inorganic materials (e.g. plastics, paper, glass, aluminum) increases, while the relative organic fraction decreases.
The report said that cities should go for an urgent plan approach solid waste in a comprehensive manner.
“What we’re finding in these figures is not that surprising,” said Hoornweg, “What is surprising, however, is that when you add the figures up we’re looking at a relatively silent problem that is growing daily. The challenges surrounding municipal solid waste are going to be enormous, on a scale of, if not greater than, the challenges we are currently experiencing with climate change. This report should be seen as a wake-up call for policymakers everywhere.”
Report scathes Indian companies for rainforest plunder
Condemns corporates for destroying Indonesian rainforests for palm oil plantation
By
As leaders from developed and developing nations meet in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday to discuss and reach an agreement on their political commitments for sustainable development at the UN Rio+20 Summit, Greenpeace India’s investigative report, “Frying the Forest”- How India’s use of Palm Oil is having a devastating impact on Indonesia’s rainforests, tigers and global climate has condemned Indian corporates. The report condemns corporates like ITC, Britannia, Godrej and Ruchi Soya for destroying Indonesian rainforests by their use of palm oil leading to worsening climate change and endangering the already endangered Sumatrian Tiger and Orangutan.
According to the report 13 million hectares of forests, mainly tropical rainforests are cleared every year and converted into agricultural land globally, including palm oil plantations. This has put the ecosystem, habitat, livelihoods of tens of millions of people depending on the forest at risk. Climate change, falling crop yields caused by floods, draught, erratic rainfall and other climate change affects approx 2.2 billion Asian farmers. “Destruction and degradation of forests is responsible for up to 1/5th of the annual global greenhouse gas emissions,” says the report.
Despite the recent commitment by Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) to a ‘no deforestation footprint’ and Indonesian government’s commitment to strengthen the deforestation moratorium, destruction of Indonesia’s forests and peatlands for palm oil continues.
“Duta Palma in Riau province of Indonesia despite being a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil continues to destroy rainforests and peatlands. Here India cannot absolve itself of the responsibility as Duta Palma is a supplier to the Indian companies like Ruchi Soya, Adani-Wilmar, Cargill, Gokul Refoils, Emami and WF among others. Through Ruchi Soya, palm oil further moves via supply chains of major Indian brands like Britannia, ITC, Bunge India, Lotte India Cadbury(Kraft) India and Nestle India,” says the report.
Pointing that even state companies like PEC Limited under the ministry of commerce and industry and state trading corporation (STC) are Indonesian palm oil importers, the study criticizes both the governments for not making commitments to ensure that the palm oil they purchase is not linked to deforestation and peatland destruction.
Nandikesh Sivalingam Greenpeace forest campaigner said that despite their requests, no Indian company has so far made commitments to ensure that their palm oil and other supply chain components are not linked to deforestation. This poses a risk to their brands. “Greenpeace is urging Indian companies using palm oil to show true leadership and demonstrate that their sustainability commitments are not mere promises,” he said.
Asking Indian companies to stop trading with companies that destroy forests and peatlands and stop sourcing from third party suppliers who refuse to rule out supply from companies like Duta Palma, Greenpeace wants oil producers to operate in compliance with local laws and national regulations in their plantations and operations and ensure implementation of free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous people and other traditional forest users, participation of local communities in all developmental activities. To preserve biodiversity it calls for stopping deforestation and making it a central part of the political and corporate policy for taking the challenge of climate change.
In India, palm oil is the cheapest edible oil available and is the world’s largest market. With 7.2 million tonnes consumption of palm oil in 2011-2012, it is more than China (16%) and EU (14%) and 19% of the global total. Since 06-07, India’s palm oil consumption has doubled and slated to continue in the same pattern until 2030. By 2050, its consumption will triple.
Most of it is imported from Indonesia and is used in packaged food, cosmetics and even fuel. In 2009-2010, 5.8 million tonnes was imported from Indonesia out of its total consumption of 6.5million. Greenpeace report says that to establish palm oil plantations, forest is cleared and peatland drained which results in release of a huge amount of greenhouse gas.
Despite Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council statistics that palm oil sector is the key driver for natural forest loss and peatland degradation, it accounts for 17% of the world’s deforestation-related GHG emissions.
Annually, 1.8 billion tonnes of climate changing carbon dioxide emissions are released by degradation and burning of country’s peatlands from less than 0.1% of land on earth. These GHG emissions are comparable to the total reduction in annual emissions required under the Kyoto protocol from Annex 1 industrialized nations.
By
Geetanjali Minhas
Principal Correspondent (Mumbai)
As leaders from developed and developing nations meet in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday to discuss and reach an agreement on their political commitments for sustainable development at the UN Rio+20 Summit, Greenpeace India’s investigative report, “Frying the Forest”- How India’s use of Palm Oil is having a devastating impact on Indonesia’s rainforests, tigers and global climate has condemned Indian corporates. The report condemns corporates like ITC, Britannia, Godrej and Ruchi Soya for destroying Indonesian rainforests by their use of palm oil leading to worsening climate change and endangering the already endangered Sumatrian Tiger and Orangutan.
According to the report 13 million hectares of forests, mainly tropical rainforests are cleared every year and converted into agricultural land globally, including palm oil plantations. This has put the ecosystem, habitat, livelihoods of tens of millions of people depending on the forest at risk. Climate change, falling crop yields caused by floods, draught, erratic rainfall and other climate change affects approx 2.2 billion Asian farmers. “Destruction and degradation of forests is responsible for up to 1/5th of the annual global greenhouse gas emissions,” says the report.
Despite the recent commitment by Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) to a ‘no deforestation footprint’ and Indonesian government’s commitment to strengthen the deforestation moratorium, destruction of Indonesia’s forests and peatlands for palm oil continues.
“Duta Palma in Riau province of Indonesia despite being a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil continues to destroy rainforests and peatlands. Here India cannot absolve itself of the responsibility as Duta Palma is a supplier to the Indian companies like Ruchi Soya, Adani-Wilmar, Cargill, Gokul Refoils, Emami and WF among others. Through Ruchi Soya, palm oil further moves via supply chains of major Indian brands like Britannia, ITC, Bunge India, Lotte India Cadbury(Kraft) India and Nestle India,” says the report.
Pointing that even state companies like PEC Limited under the ministry of commerce and industry and state trading corporation (STC) are Indonesian palm oil importers, the study criticizes both the governments for not making commitments to ensure that the palm oil they purchase is not linked to deforestation and peatland destruction.
Nandikesh Sivalingam Greenpeace forest campaigner said that despite their requests, no Indian company has so far made commitments to ensure that their palm oil and other supply chain components are not linked to deforestation. This poses a risk to their brands. “Greenpeace is urging Indian companies using palm oil to show true leadership and demonstrate that their sustainability commitments are not mere promises,” he said.
Asking Indian companies to stop trading with companies that destroy forests and peatlands and stop sourcing from third party suppliers who refuse to rule out supply from companies like Duta Palma, Greenpeace wants oil producers to operate in compliance with local laws and national regulations in their plantations and operations and ensure implementation of free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous people and other traditional forest users, participation of local communities in all developmental activities. To preserve biodiversity it calls for stopping deforestation and making it a central part of the political and corporate policy for taking the challenge of climate change.
In India, palm oil is the cheapest edible oil available and is the world’s largest market. With 7.2 million tonnes consumption of palm oil in 2011-2012, it is more than China (16%) and EU (14%) and 19% of the global total. Since 06-07, India’s palm oil consumption has doubled and slated to continue in the same pattern until 2030. By 2050, its consumption will triple.
Most of it is imported from Indonesia and is used in packaged food, cosmetics and even fuel. In 2009-2010, 5.8 million tonnes was imported from Indonesia out of its total consumption of 6.5million. Greenpeace report says that to establish palm oil plantations, forest is cleared and peatland drained which results in release of a huge amount of greenhouse gas.
Despite Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council statistics that palm oil sector is the key driver for natural forest loss and peatland degradation, it accounts for 17% of the world’s deforestation-related GHG emissions.
Annually, 1.8 billion tonnes of climate changing carbon dioxide emissions are released by degradation and burning of country’s peatlands from less than 0.1% of land on earth. These GHG emissions are comparable to the total reduction in annual emissions required under the Kyoto protocol from Annex 1 industrialized nations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
